OBIT_NICHOLSON
Wilmot Nicholson former mayor of santa
clara who was born on a pear ranch in Alviso.photo and obituary
Ran on: 10-16-2007
Wilmot Joseph &quo;Bill&quo; Nicholson, a rancher at heart who wore a signature Stetson, was born in Alviso in 1914.
Ran on: 10-16-2007
Wilmot Joseph &quo;Bill&quo; Nicholson, a rancher at heart who wore a signature Stetson, was born in Alviso in 1914.
Ran on: 10-16-2007

Wilmot Joseph "Bill" Nicholson, a former mayor of Santa Clara and regent at Santa Clara University who sported a trademark Stetson and had a zest for life, has died. He was 93.

Mayor Nicholson, a rancher at heart who founded the construction firm W.J. Nicholson Co. and spent 20 years on the engineering faculty at Santa Clara University, was herding cattle on horseback in Montana three weeks before his death Oct. 8 from a staph infection.

"We are all so astonished that he died because somehow he had fooled us into thinking he was immortal," said his daughter, Kathleen Hull Gisvold. "You look at this 93-year-old herding cattle, and he made us think he was going to live until he was 150."

Mayor Nicholson was a colorful figure with a civic bent who was called "Grandpa Great" by his 26 great-grandchildren. He was the first person on the dance floor and a top-shelf storyteller, family members said. He had a contagious pleasantness and unflagging sense of humor, Gisvold said.

"He and my brother were in a restaurant in New Orleans, and there were two women at the table next to them," Gisvold said. "One of the women was saying, 'I thought Col. Sanders had died.' And the other said, 'Of course he hasn't. He's at the next table.' They came over and he signed their napkins 'Col. Sanders' without missing a beat."

Wilmot Joseph Nicholson, the son of a pioneering family that came to California in 1850, was born on the family pear ranch in Alviso in 1914. He attended Bellarmine College Prep and Santa Clara University, graduating in 1936 with a degree in civil engineering. That began a long relationship with the university, where he would later teach and serve on the board of regents. He was honored in 2001 with the school's Ignatian Award for service to humanity.

He married his high school sweetheart, Ruth Russell, and the two had what family members called a 64-year romance until her death in 2001. The couple had six children: sons George, Bruce, Mark and John Nicholson, and daughters Kathleen Hull Gisvold and Martha McAllister.

Mayor Nicholson was a devout Roman Catholic and the patriarch of a clan that included 14 grandchildren and 26 great grandchildren.

But he and his wife also knew deep sorrow.

Their sons George and Mark died before their parents, but the couple refused to succumb to misery, family said.

"Both of my parents could so easily have become bitter, disappointed people, but they really weren't," Gisvold said. "They continued to be grateful for the blessings in their lives, that they still had four healthy children."

He had other charitable causes that he largely kept in the background, family members said.

"Dad would bring a picture to a family gathering of a little African orphan that he had been supporting who had just graduated from high school," Gisvold said. "He'd say, 'We've been corresponding for years.' "

Mayor Nicholson's passions ranged from horseback riding to stamp collecting. He was involved in several groups, perhaps the most colorful being the Diogenes Club, where he would don a deerstalker cap and discuss Sherlock Holmes with other enthusiasts of Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective.

There will be a service at 1 p.m. Saturday at All Saints' Episcopal Day School in Carmel Valley. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that memorial contributions be made to a charity started in memory of Mayor Nicholson's two deceased sons, the GeorgeMark Children's House, 2121 GeorgeMark Lane, San Leandro, CA 94527.